Seguimiento de la biodiversidad en la era del Big Data

Abstract

The monitoring and evaluation of the distribution, structure and functioning of biodiversity, as well as the effects exerted by different pressures and threats on its conservation and dynamics in a context of Global Change, constitute one of the greatest challenges of current science and a critical axis in the agendas of numerous government agencies. Given the importance of having reliable, representative and temporally dynamic data to respond to these challenges, Ecology, like other branches of Biology and Earth Sciences, has recently echoed the phenomenon known as "Big Data" or "Data Science". In Ecology, this massive dataset relates to several sources of information: a) time series of remote observation data; b) aggregation of local and regional field or experimental data; c) long-term monitoring networks with national and international field data; d) automated sensor networks, and, e) Citizen Science initiatives, among others. Together, Big Data amplifies the spatio-temporal scale of issues related to biodiversity monitoring and management, making it possible to cover aspects and scales that were unthinkable only a few years ago. However, its application in Ecology still presents great challenges and there is currently an intense debate about its applicability at scales related to the management of spaces and species. Through its pages, this review tries to present the current state of the science on monitoring biodiversity of terrestrial ecosystems and its sources of information, as well as its synergies, applications, analysis methodologies, challenges and opportunities in the era of Big Data.